PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F02

F02B - Internal-combustion Piston Engines

Internal-combustion piston engines; combustion engines in general. 11,001 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

11,001
US patents granted
#4/9
in F02
15.0%
F02 class share
-19%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Internal-combustion Piston Engines ranks #162 of 670 CPC technology areas - 11,001 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 19% over five years.

#162
of 670 CPC technology areas
11,001
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Ford Global
leading assignee (1,028)
-19%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F02B's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F02B recorded 4,604 grants versus 5,701 in 2015–2019 (-19% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 1,379 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 550 (+151% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Ford Global Technologies, LLC holds 9.3% of the class ; the top three share 15.4%.

Leaderboard read

F02B concentration, lead at 9.3%

Ford Global Technologies, LLC leads this historical grant record at 9.3% of F02B - us corporation assignees hold 52% of class grants (3,522 of 6,804). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
9.3%

1,028 of 11,001 grants

Top three share
15.4%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
684

more grants than BorgWarner Inc.

Where F02B sits inside F02

Among 9 subclasses in F02 (Combustion ENGINES; Hot-gas OR Combustion-product Engine Plants), F02B ranks #4 and holds 15.0% of the parent class's 73,441 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F02D 16,949 F02C 16,237 F02M 13,937 F02K 5,533 F02N 3,467 F02P 2,762 F02F 2,743 F02G 812

Rising assignees active in F02B

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

  1. #1 Mercedes-Benz Group AG 257x 0 → 257 company-wide · 17 in F02B
  2. #2 Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. 146x 0 → 146 company-wide · 7 in F02B
  3. #3 Turbo Systems Switzerland Ltd. 17x 0 → 17 company-wide · 6 in F02B
  4. #4 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Equipment Co., Ltd. 11x 1 → 11 company-wide · 11 in F02B
  5. #5 American CNG, LLC 9.00x 0 → 9 company-wide · 8 in F02B

F02B grants by year, peak 2019 (1,379)

US utility-patent grants per year in F02B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 19% versus 2015–2019.

05001,0001,500 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 298

Who leads F02B?

The 12 most active assignees in Internal-combustion Piston ENGINES; Combustion Engines IN General - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Ford Global is the most active filer in F02B, holding 1,028 of the 11,001 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass F02B
Rank Company Patents in F02B
#1 Ford Global Technologies, LLC 1,028
#2 BorgWarner Inc. 344
#3 Mazda Motor Corporation 317
#4 Caterpillar Inc. 309
#5 Cummins Inc. 240
#6 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd. 178
#7 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. 174
#8 IHI Corporation 167
#9 Garrett Transportation I Inc. 131
#10 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. 126
#11 Yamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha 126
#12 Volvo Truck Corporation 115
#13 Achates Power, Inc. 108
#14 Brunswick Corporation 85
#15 Suzuki Motor Corporation 80
#16 Mahle International GmbH 78
#17 Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG 69
#18 Transportation IP Holdings, LLC 66
#19 FCA US LLC. 60
#20 Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd. 59

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F02B assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 F02B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F02B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520 050010001500 Patents in F02B Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Ford GlobalBorgwarnerMazda MotorCaterpillarCumminsMitsubishi Heavy…Pratt & Whitney CanadaIhiGarrett Transportation…Nissan MotorYamaha HatsudokiVolvo TruckAchates PowerBrunswick
Top 14 F02B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F02B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F02B's 11,001-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F02B (#162 of 670 by volume ; lead share 9.3%) - not the F02 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

G09F 11,061 H02G 11,084 G01F 10,911 C09J 11,139

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B60N 9.4% B65H 9.3% B24D 9.5% C13K 9.2%

Questions about F02B

Which company holds the most patents in F02B?
Ford Global Technologies, LLC leads F02B with 1,028 patents (9.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 52% of class grants.
Which F02B assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F02B, Mercedes-Benz Group AG shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (257x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 257 in 2022–2024) while holding 17 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does F02B compare inside parent class F02?
Inside F02 (Combustion ENGINES; Hot-gas OR Combustion-product Engine Plants), F02B ranks #4 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 15.0% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F02D (16,949 grants).

What to do with this data

F02B in context - here's where to go next.

  • Ford Global Technologies, LLC leads F02B with 1,028 grants in this class. See full portfolio
  • F02B ranks #162 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
  • Inside parent class F02, the largest sibling subclass is F02D with 16,949 grants. Explore F02D

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - F02B figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (11,001 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.